Along the Côte d'Azur (10.08.2016 - 13.08.2016)

After leaving Andorra (and crossing one gigantic traffic jam uphill) we drove to Carcasonne for the night. The little city is well preserved and looks really nice towering on the hill.

The following day we drove all the way east to the coast but didn't quite make it. The crazy Mistral made riding our micro machines way to dangerous. We were almost blown off and had to lean into the wind at certain times. It was blowing up to 60km/h from the side o_O. So we spent the night in Salon de Provence and continued the following day with a big headache ;). A lovely stretch between the hills later and we reached St. Tropez! 

Here we stayed on one of the luxurious yachts anchoring in the gulf. Okay it was an old rundown boat, but still! Having a swim and enjoying the view was awesome. Also at night we got picked up were all the fancy people waited to get to their boat :D The illusion was a bit spoiled when our broken little dingy arrived, but still! ;)

St. Tropez otherwise isn't really worth mentioning... A lot of ladies dressed as girls and a lot of girls dressed as ladies. Weird world between the yachts and Ferraris.

The next day I would never have traded our motorbike against one of these luxury cars. Almost all the way to Cannes was one never ending traffic jam. We must have overtaken millions of cars... 

A brief stop and off we where for lunch to Nice. Enjoying a last time the fresh spoils of the sea.

On to Monaco, country number eight of eight! Almost three thousand kilometers behind us and still not home :D

We toasted to our success and drove on.

In Barcelona and through Andorra (06.08.2016 - 09.08.2016)

After 24 hours on board we finally had land under our wheels again! Country number five!

In Barcelona we stayed in the (touristic) heart of the city, Las Ramblas. At the hostel we were met by Melanie, which had flown in for the weekend! :D

The next three days we spent drinking wine and eating tapas. I don't remember how many pinxtos we ate, but too many! Of course we visited the obvious places and walked around the gothic quarter.

To relax from the hard life the three of us drove south to the Platja de Gavà. A lovely beach with a little shack and bar. Here we got joined by some more friends on the way to Portugal, right off the ferry from Genoa with their hippie buses ;). A nice little reunion!

Then it was Monday and time to say goodbye. Melanie flew home and we drove on to Andorra. Some unpleasant motorway later we were on a winding street up to Andorra, country number six!

We got warned that it isn't worth a visit. What an underestimation... Gas stations, car and motorbike stores and way to many hotels literally filled the entire valley! We slept in an expensive hotel, filled our tanks with cheap gasoline and drove on. The mountain pass over to France was nice. But even on top of it at 2400 metres above sea where three! gas stations, wtf?!?

All roads lead to Rome (01.08.2016 - 05.08.2016)

Rome, Check!

Vatican, Check!

Ferry, Check!

We did finally reach Rome after a night of camping half way from San Marino. There we got the first rain on this trip, about an hour in our tent. Lucky so far!

Our two days in Rome where spent between sightseeing (just the bare minimum, the tourist masses and the heat made it impossible), some Vespa maintenance (leaky oil valve fixed, a new rear tire and oil change), drinking (did I mention the heat?) and eating (soo good!).

The time was up and we drove as close to the colosseum and the Vatican as the police would allow before chasing us away. Snapped some pics and we where off to the coast!

We boarded the ferry as one of the first and checked out our cabin. Many people opted for the cheaper option and slept everywhere on the floor. One couple even raised a tent on deck. Bad idea, once the ship started moving they got almost blown over board. The next day we arrived late in Barcelona due to a late start and rough weather.

During the ride we were afraid the rolling would make our Vespas topple over... Nothing happened, phuu!

South Tyrol, Rimini and San Marino

We made it to country number three! After finally crossing into the South Tyrol and a rather short night in Bolzano we cruised along the beautiful Lago di Garda. A dip in the lake and detour to Sirmione for a pleasant meal we powered on to the east. The next morning we made a quick stop in Chioggia for breakfast as this is a city built in the lagoon like Venice (minus the tourist masses).
From there it was all the way south along the Adriatic coast to Rimini. The part were we stayed wasn't as crowded as expected and we had some beach time to battle our T-Shirt tans ;)
In the night we wandered around town and had to recognize that everybody was either half our age or got kids O_o
Luckily we found a street party full of locals and thanks to this ended up with little sleep and a miserable morning after ;). Some pizza for breakfast to sober up and we tackled the short stretch to the Republic of San Marino! Driving all the way up front to the historic part of the city we parked our mighty machines and headed into the tourist throng. There was some kind of medieval festival going on: people dressed up, stalls, falconry and canon shooting.

Start your engines! (25.07.2016 - 28.07.2016)

Resting on our third day on the road I have time to inform you about the current adventure :D

A while ago our little Vespa gang made plans for the summer and this is what we came up with:
Switzerland - Italy - San Marino - Vatican City - Spain - Andorra - France - Monte Carlo
If your wondering how we get from Italy to Spain, we take the ferry from Rome to Barcelona ;)
Sadly not everybody made it to the start line... Rainer didn't get his Vespa approved nor has he the permit to drive its 150cc engine O_o
And Alex managed to "crash" his Vespa which resulted in a broken foot! This left only Patrick aka Winston and me to tackle this.
Of course we started with some mountain passes in Switzerland. So far we did the Oberalp, Splügen, Maloja and Bernina. There are four more before we turn south but on the last leg back in Switzerland we have seven more mapped out. Hopefully Alex can join us there and show us what his new scooter is made of ;)
So all is well, we managed to "outrun" the rain a couple of time and hope the weather forecast which announces snow down to 1200 meters above sea level. Our the next pass is 2700 m.a.s.l. O_o

Ciao!